It’s Monday! What are you reading? –From Picture Books to YA–is a weekly meme hosted by Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts. Head over to their blog for links to many great blogs and a plethora of good book suggestions.
Books I finished this week:
I completely understand why In Darkness by Nick Lake won the Printz award this year. This book was so beautiful and complex and made me think hard. I loved the way the story weaved back and forth between a historical account of the fight for independence and a story of today’s slums and living conditions in Haiti. The fact that all of the story was being told through the thoughts of a young man trapped by rubble from the big earthquake made the story that much more powerful and poignant. I will be reviewing this one soon in a more extended format as part of my #Nerdprintz challenge.
I got The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P. #1) from Netgalley after reading about it on another Monday post. I absolutely love the Artemis Fowl series and have enjoyed all other books by Eoin Colfer in the past. When I heard he was writing a new series, I knew I needed to read it. This was an entertaining and quick read. I loved the science fiction story and I know that students will love the adventure and thriller feel to the book. I can certainly see why some teachers would feel that there was too much violence in this book…tread lightly with middle grade students. However, I think that my middle school students would love this fun story and I do not think the content would be inappropriate for grades 6 and up.
Books I am Currently Reading:
I am still reading Rot and Ruin. I am finding the story entertaining, but for some reason I keep picking up other books. I am not sure what it is that is making me feel reluctant to read this one. Perhaps I feel too full of zombie stories right now.
I am listening to Days of Blood and Starlight and will finish it this week. There is about an hour left on the audiobook.
What’s Next?
I still have Aristotle and Dante from the library. I don’t really know what else I will pick up this week. Now that I am done with report cards, I should have more time to read. The craziness of the end of the school year is still overwhelming and I will probably continue to be slow at finishing books. I cannot wait for bookaday to start in two weeks.
In Darkness is new to me – another one for my summer list!
I can't decide what I thought of In Darkness. I thought it was extremely well-written, but I wonder about its depiction of Haiti. Oh well. I might have to read it again! I LOVED both Rot & Ruin and Aristotle and Dante. Two of my favorites!
I am listing to In Darkness now. Very early in and still on the fence. I feel like I should read it and hope that it picks up for me. I could not get into Rot & Ruin at all, which was so disappointing because at the time I was desperate for a zombie book. Have a great reading week! http://wp.me/pzUn5-1yt
I certainly can understand some reservations about the depiction of Haiti, but it really rang true to me that people living in these extreme slums would live like this. I liked the history lesson about the slave rebellion and I thought it seemed like the author really must have done his research to have such a solid story. I actually went to the web to do some of my own research about the author because I also was not sure at first about this depiction. I think the gritty and realistic picture of a violent life is part of what made this book resonate so much with me.
I remember seeing In Darkness at NCTE when it was in Chicago. I never read it, though. Hearing you talk about it intrigues me though. Sometimes it helps to hear someone else describe a book and what they enjoy about it and makes me want to read it in a different way. Thanks!